This invention relates to rendering pixels of an image for display.
The array of pixels that make up the image are represented by values stored in a pixel map and later retrieved to drive, e.g., a CRT. A typical image is built up as a montage of geometric objects of several basic types, for example, triangles, spheres, and lines. The size, shape, and orientation of each object is defined by a set of basic parameters (such as the location of the center of a circle and its radius) called a primitive. The process of converting the primitives of an image to pixel values in the pixel map is called rendering. In rendering each pixel, it must be determined which pixels lie within those objects, and what color value the pixel should have, given the information provided in the primitive for that object (e.g., its geometry and 3D/2D coordinates) and the shading and lighting to be applied.
In one known rendering technique, the plane of the image is divided into sub-planes. Each pixel of each plane has a simple processor dedicated to rendering that pixel. All of the simple processors render their pixels simultaneously in parallel.
In another approach, there are four rendering processors dedicated respectively to red, green, blue, and alpha channels.